Shackle seal



May 2, 1939.y w. M. BRooKs SHACKLE S EAL Filed Jan. 27, 1938 yINVENTOR ABY 6.

Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIQE 2,156,616 SHACKLE SEAL Winfred M. Brooks, AWest Orange, N. J., assignor to E. J.V Brooks Company, Newark, N. J., a corporation lof New Jersey Application January 27, 1938, Serial No. 187,108

2 Claims. (Cl. 292-309) This invention relates to shackle seals and has 1 pressible material such as lead, and on this seal is more particularly reference to bag seals such as anchored a shackle 3 of iiexible material such as are employed in Sealing in bass used by banks `cord ortvvine that may be readily severed. This and other financial institutions. shackle may be anchored in any suitable Way in The main objects and features of the invention the Seal Such as by imbe-dding one end in the leadare t0 prevent tampering with the @0rd shackle by of the seal and passing the other and free end unauthorized persons l er accidental severine through an opening in the seal so as to provide a thereof, Without preventing a lJeISOn in alltherity loop to pass around the mouth of the bag. In the from readily SeVeI'ing the 00rd; 150 TeleVe the P1111 present instance the shackle is anchored by pro- 1) of the cord on the lead seal; and to prevent overvidng Sea1 2 with four Openings 4 and threading 10 Elimine 0n the 00rd and the consequent POSSblty opposite ends of the shackle rst through two of snapping it off when applying the seal. openings of the seal and then back through the In the aCCOInDa-nyng dIeWing the nVentOn iS other two openings of the seal thus forming a loop ShOWn in Several Cenerete and preferred OIInS in 5 composed of two strands which strands slide in Cil l5 which opposite directions past each other when the loop 15 Fig. 1 is a View, partly in elevation and partly in is tightened. 6 indicates a flexible member comsection, of a device embodying one form of the posed of open helices to slidably receive the loop invention and showing the position the parts may and through which the strands are threaded becccupy before applying the seal to the bag; fore passing them back through the seal. It will Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the top of a coin now be understood that the loop is placed around 2o bag showing the seal applied; the bag, after which said loop is tightened by pull- Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view substantially ing on the free ends of the strand and that by this 0n the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2; action said member is flexed into a curved form Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 1 showing a modithe outer circumference of which is under tension fied form of the invention; and and the inner circumference of which is under 25 Figs. 5 and 6 are views in elevation showing Still compression, the seal acting as an abutment, after other forms of the invention. which the seal is compressed. The effect is shown l indicates a bag such as is commonly employed in Figs. 2 and 3, and several important results are for the transport of coins 0r other objects, and it thereby obtained. In the rst place the helices y 39 has long been common practice to seal the mouth are compressed adjacent the bag and conse- 30 of such bags by means of a shackle of cord and a quently bite into the material of the bag as it were seal of compressible material, the cord being and this lessons the strain of the bag on the cord severed when it is desired to open the bag. It will and of the cord on the interior of the seal, because be understood that in sealing the bag, the loop of the cord need not be pulled as tightly to make the the cord shackle is placed around the open end of helices bite into the material of the bag as would the bag, the loop is pulled through the seal and the be necessary if the material of the bag is engaged seal is compressed by a suitable tool. In carrying by the cord. Thus there is less tendency for the out this operation, the cord is placed under conshackle to work loose; also the presence of the siderable tension and sometimes overpulling takes member makes it practically impossible to intro- ,10 place thereby snapping off the cord. So also, duce say a screw driver between the bag and one 40 owing to the tension, considerable strain is imof the strands of the shackle should an attempt be posed upon the lead seal Where the cord passes made to tamper with the seal. At the same time through it and in consequence it has sometimes the outer circumference of the helices is expanded been found possible for an unauthorized person to thus enabling an authorized person to readily ,i5 pull the cord back through the lead seal to partly insert a knife between the helices and sever the open the loop, give access to the contents of the cord, and to do so Without cutting into the bag as bag and thereafter to pull the loop tight again the inner circumference of the helices protects it. thus leaving no trace of tampering. Although In addition, when tightening the loop of the these and other defects have long been known, no shackle, the helical member acts as a cushion that e0 means have heretofore been devised to overcome tends to prevent overpulling of the shackle. The 50 these objections. helical member also keeps the strands of the My invention consists in combining with the shackle from twisting around each other as it shackle and seal a flexible member composed of preserves a proper side by side relation of said open helices, the details of which combination I strands and facilitates the sliding movement of shall now proceed to describe. 2 is a seal of comsaid strands past each other. Finally, the helical 55 member protects the shackle from being accidently cut or injured by reason of careless handling.

The invention is capable of embodiment in other forms than that described in connection with Figs. 1 to 3. In Fig. 4, for instance, the helical member is provided With an extension 1 that permanently attaches said member to the seal. In Fig. 5 the helical member is composed of two parts 8 and 9. It is not necessary that the helical member be initially arranged at one side of the loop; there is a positive advantage in arranging it as shown at l0 in Fig, 6 at the center of the loop because in that position it tends to keep the loop more Widely open and thus facilitates the action of placing said loop around the neck of the bag. A great many of these bag seals carry a spike as Il which pierces the material of the bag and therefore tends to prevent displacement of the seal but, bags of different sizes being used, it sometimes occurs through carelessness that a seal with a long spike as Il is used on a small bag in which event said spike may emerge on the other side of the bag and may injure the fingers of the operator. It Will be seen that, in addition to its many other functions, the helical member Will protect the sharp end of the spike.

I claim:

1. The combination of a shackle of flexible material anchored in and threaded through a seal, the loop of which shackle is to be tightened around a member to be sealed by pulling said shackle through the seal; a exible member composed of open helices surrounding and slidably receiving said shackle; and a seal, in which the shackle is anchored and through which it is slidable to tighten the loop of the shackle around the object to be sealed, said seal acting as an abutment for said member to cause it to be flexed into curved form when the loop of the shackle is tightened.

2. The combination of a shackle of ilexible material anchored in and threaded through a seal, the loop of which shackle is to be tightened around a member to be sealed by pulling said shackle through the seal; a flexible member surrounding and slidably receiving said shackle; and a seal, in which the shackle is anchored and through which it is slidable to tighten the loop of the shackle around the object to be sealed, said seal acting as an abutment for said member to cause it to be ilexed into curved form when the loop of the shackle is tightened.

WINFRED M. BROOKS. 

